At the Vertical with Vertigo

And it's strange how
This chasm, this gorge
That splits at my two feet
Goes both ways -
Look up, up, across
See the burning eyes
The love that stops us
Being lost,
The radiating of
Illimitable light ... 
But look down, down:
Darkness boils and 
Consumes itself.
This is vertigo
Of spinning head ...
It seems that I have
Dropped here
Lost and dead
At this edge of chasm 
Whose foundered seas
Advance,
Retreat, advance,
Retreat,
And fume-in upon
Their own depths 
That utter shelf 
If I would just fall-in
And drown ...
And so I teeter on
This crown of land
Look up to sanity
Down to insane
Depths that call me down
And all I know is
Darkness near
Darkness clouding-in
Suffocating 
All the light from me
And I, small seagull,
Underborne by tide and wind
Hear my own harsh cry resound
Plaintif at this cliff.
I cannot express it.
My reach of wing
Falls short of ground
And is no good at
Swimming.
Here he stands 
With me, strange one
Swathed in black.
He takes my hand
And does not give it back.

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